For the Good of the Crew
by my nature
Summary: Every one of them had wanted nakama. But it was only afterward that they realized the sacrifices they would have to make to keep them.
1. Nami

They all stood on deck with a solemn look. Nami tried to be calm but then she couldn't stop the tears.

"Please, isn't there any other way?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but we have no other choice."

"But, but, but..." She ran over to Sanji.

"Please, Sanji-kun. You can stop this, right?" She looked into his eyes and he looked away.

"I'm sorry, Nami-san, I can't. We have to do this. It's for the good of the crew."

"Sanji-kun, please. I love you. Please, do this for me. Stop this!" Most of the time Sanji was easy to manipulate, but now he knew it was for the best. He didn't say anything but he couldn't look her in the eyes either.

"Sanji-kun, didn't you promise to be my knight? Always and forever? Please."

"I can't. I'm sorry, Nami-san."

"You promised, please." It was cruel to manipulate him like this, to try and force his hand and hope to move him. Nami didn't care, she felt the pain in her chest deeply and if Sanji would refuse her then she would share her pain with him.

He could not look at her anymore.

"I'll hate you forever," she threatened.

"Nami-san," he said in a whisper. She walked away and he lit up a cigarette.

"I'm sorry, please try to understand," he whispered to himself.

"Usopp, please do something," Nami said. Usopp could not look at her either.

"Hasn't it always been your dream to be brave? To be a big hero? To rescue damsels in distress? Well I need rescuing."

"I'm sorry, Nami. It has to be done. Please understand."

"I don't understand anything," she said, walking over to Luffy.

Luffy had his hat over his eyes. "Luffy, please. You can't do this."

"Sorry, Nami but it has to be done. Captain's orders. Please don't cry."

"But please. Please. I'll get you meat," she promised. Luffy stopped to think. For a second, Nami almost thought she had him but then Zoro interrupted.

"Nami," Zoro said. "It's not often that Luffy uses his position as captain to order us to do anything. The least we can do is listen to him when he does."

"But."

"I'm sorry, Nami," Chopper said. "It'll be alright, you'll see."

"No, it won't be. Please, Luffy. You can't do this to me."

She couldn't see his eyes beneath his hat.

"Zoro? Chopper? Please?" They couldn't look at her anymore. She ran over to Franky.

"Sis, I'm sorry but we have no choice." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's for the best."

"No, it's not."

"Maybe not, but we have no other choice. The crew would fall apart otherwise."

"No, it wouldn't because, because..." she couldn't find the words anymore.

"Brook?" She asked timidly. Franky was still holding her.

"I'm sorry, Nami-san. It's not my place to..."

"Forget about your place, please. Just do something. Anything."

"I can not. Forgive me Nami-san."

"Robin." Franky let go of her and Nami ran over to Robin. Robin wrapped her arms around Nami too. She soothed her as best she could.

"I'm sorry, but at this point, there's nothing to be done. This is really the only way." Nami backed up away from Robin slowly. She had never felt so betrayed.

With tears flowing down her eyes, Nami fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around the chest on the floor. "Please," she tried again. She looked at each of them and repeated herself. Some of them couldn't even look her in the eyes. She swallowed nervously as she knew it was the end. No amount of begging or pleading or threatening could help her now. She wanted to scream, to yell, to bite, to hit them, all of them but it wouldn't do any good. She decided she would accept this graciously, by screaming and crying.

"Guys, it's time," Luffy said in his captain voice.

"No," Nami cried one last time. She had resigned herself to fate now.

"Sanji, Zoro," Luffy called to them. They approached her slowly. Nami shot Sanji a look of betrayal and the apologetic look he had almost made her want to forgive him.

Almost, she thought. She could never forgive this. Did they even know what they were doing? She had thought Robin was smart and had common sense but she didn't come to her aid. Robin was just as foolish as the rest of them, Nami decided.

"Do it," Luffy commanded. Zoro grabbed her gently. His grip was loose but he was still worried so he loosened it more. He picked her up and moved her away gently. She glanced into his eyes which were cold now from duty. It had to be done. It was the will of his captain. He put her down gently and she fell to the floor as soon as he let go.

He walked back over to Sanji and the two of them picked up the chest.

"No!" Nami screamed as she watched them.

"Toss the treasure overboard," Luffy commanded. They threw the chest over the railing and it made a loud splat as it fell into the ocean. The ship sailed away as the chest sank to the bottom of the ocean.

"How could you?" Nami screamed as loud as she could. "Do you know how much gold was in there? How much money? Do you know what we could have done with that money? Luffy, think about how much meat you won't get to eat now."

"We had to, Nami," Luffy said. "The treasure was cursed. It almost killed Chopper."

Chopper felt bad. "I'm sorry we had to get rid of your treasure, Nami."

"It's your own fault anyways. There was a sign warning us about the cursed treasure and you just went ahead and took it anyways. You brought this on yourself," Zoro said.

"But did you see how much money was in there? All that gold, think about what we could have done with that much gold."

"Think about what we would have done with the curse," Zoro answered.

"It was quite a deadly curse. Snakes falling out of the sky, random explosions over the ship, tripping Chopper with a banana peel and causing him to fall overboard. In time, it probably would have killed us all," Robin said.

"Those were all coincidences, no curse."

"Nami, none of us had eaten bananas in months. How did the banana peel get there then if not for the curse?" Usopp asked.

"I don't know but I don't believe in curses."

"You don't believe in curses when they involve money," Usopp said.

"Perhaps, it was the power of a Devil Fruit. We may never know," Robin said. "But it was best to be rid of it."

"Fine, but you all owe me for this." Everyone except Robin groaned. They were already deep enough in debt.


	2. Sanji

**A/N: I had this up originally on another account but I realized it might fit here.**

* * *

It was just after lunchtime and Luffy was trying to talk to Sanji about dinner. It was a warm sunny day and Luffy and Usopp had decided to go fishing. At the last island, they had gathered worms and bugs and several other things that made Nami run to her room and Sanji look away. The fishing had not gone well despite their preparations. Luffy then decided that perhaps the bait could be used to feed the crew rather than the fish. Sanji was disgusted.

"You really would eat just about anything huh?" Luffy smiled and nodded.

"Come on Sanji, cook these." He offered Sanji a handful of live worms. Sanji backed away.

"Get those away from me. I would never cook anything as disgusting as that."

"But Sanji!"

"No, if you want them so much, eat them raw," Sanji told him.

"But Sanji! Everything tastes better when you cook them." Sanji was pleased with the compliment.

"No! Shitty idiot. I'm not cooking bugs just for you. No one else in this crew would eat bugs! They would be disgusted at the very sight. Especially delicate ladies like Nami-swan and Robin-chwan." Zoro was nearby, sleeping on the grass. Luffy ran over and offered him the worms.

"Zoro, you would eat worms right?" Zoro opened his eyes and glanced at Luffy's hand.

"Sure." He grabbed one. It wriggled between his fingers and he put it into his mouth. He glanced over at Sanji and noticed his face. He looked sick and turned away.

"What's the matter Swirly-brow? Weak stomach?" He smirked at Sanji who turned to glare at him.

"Shut up you moss-head, only uncivilized beasts like you would eat bugs!" Zoro did not stop smirking and Sanji glared harder.

"Come on Sanji, bugs are tasty too. I bet you could make them taste so good." Luffy licked his lips. He thought of all the ways Sanji might choose to cook the bugs. Sanji turned his glare onto Luffy.

"No way in hell." He went back to the kitchen. Luffy and Zoro watched him walk back.

He prepared two desserts. He was careful with the ingredients. He measured and remeasured to make them to the exact specifications that he knew Robin and Nami would prefer. He opened the door and went out. Luffy was fishing with Usopp who accepted and ate a worm that Luffy had offered. Sanji made a face and walked past them to the library where both ladies were reading. Sanji came in and placed a dessert on the table next to Robin and brought the other one over to Nami.

"Nami-swan!" There were hearts in his eyes and he danced awkwardly over to Nami. He handed her the dessert and she greeted him with a warm smile. His heart almost exploded; then the door opened and Luffy came in. He grounded his teeth and glared at Luffy. Luffy smiled at him with his hand full of worms. Nami made a face and jumped out of her chair and moved back behind it. Robin smiled.

"Sanji, cook these worms."

"Dammit, you shitty bastard, no one likes to eat worms." Luffy glanced over to Nami. She look frightened and he smiled and offered her his handful of worms. She shrieked and Sanji brought his foot down on top of Luffy's head.

"Shitty idiot, get those things away from the ladies," Sanji said.

Luffy looked over to Robin who smiled. "Hey, get out of here," Sanji said. He launched a kick for Luffy's chest but Luffy moved aside and went over to Robin.

"Get away those things away from Robin-chwan!" Luffy held out his hand again for Robin. She was still smiling and accepted a worm. Sanji made a face and felt something trying to come up his throat. He suppressed it.

"Robin-chwan, those are disgusting. Throw them away." Sanji tried to explain to Robin but she wouldn't listen.

"You know," Robin began. "On several islands in West Blue, worms and other bugs were considered a delicacy. One island especially had a holiday where you only ate bugs." Robin liked to explain things. Sanji blinked and promised himself to stay out of West Blue. Robin ate the worm. Sanji watched her chew and swallow. Something trying to come up his throat again and he had to fight to suppress it. Luffy turned towards Sanji and offered him the worms again.

"Cook these for dinner!"

"Bugs for dinner would be a nice change of pace," said Robin.

"EW! NO, WE ARE NOT EATING BUGS!" Nami ran over and hit Luffy on the top of the head. "That's disgusting. Why would anyone eat bugs?"

In the end, Luffy won. He had brought heavy artillery in the form of Robin, and Nami decided she would not come to dinner. Sanji would just bring her some bug-free food later.

"Fine, give me your bugs but at the very least kill them first," Sanji told Luffy. Luffy killed the bugs and put them in a small container for Sanji. He brought them to the kitchen and put on a pair of gloves. He put a second pair of gloves on over the first pair and went to work. He turned his thoughts towards Robin and hoped he could make himself forget he was cooking bugs.

One of the spiders was still alive. It crawled out onto the counter and Sanji shrieked. He grabbed a knife and chopped it into pieces. He panted heavily and cursed Luffy. He washed the bugs. Many of them were full of dirt and Luffy had not even bothered to clean them. Sanji didn't know if any of the other bugs were still alive but he hoped they drowned.

Sanji cooked it and was careful to measure his spices and sauces. He did not taste the bugs before serving them. Zeff had once told him to always taste his meals beforehand so that they would not serve the customers anything terrible or dangerous.

Sanji was wrong about the crew's reaction. None of them were disgusted, many of them were surprised and took to eating bugs with great enthusiasm. Robin gave herself a large helping and ate it quickly. Chopper and Usopp seemed to like it. Sanji wondered if Luffy was rubbing off on them. Franky didn't seem to mind and neither did Brook, who somehow made a skull joke about bugs; something about exoskeletons. Luffy was pleased and showered him with compliments. Zoro complained like always.

Besides the bugs, there were several other dishes and Sanji only ate from those. He hoped he could get through the meal without eating a single bug. Then Robin reached over, which he was pleased about as he got a nice view of her cleavage, and put a large helping of bugs onto his plate.

"Have some, Sanji-kun. After you worked so hard, it would be a shame if you didn't have some." Sanji could not refuse Robin. He moved his fork down slowly and hoped that Luffy would reach over and save him at the last second but Luffy was content to steal from everyone but him. Sanji cursed him again and brought a bug into his mouth. He chewed slowly at first before he realized that it was only prolonging the experience and he finished it quickly. He closed his eyes. It did not taste bad, nothing he made tasted bad, but the knowledge that he had eaten a bug disturbed him. He would have to eat the rest as he could never let food go to waste.

He opened his eyes and found that Luffy had stolen the rest. For once, he was glad. He noticed all the bugs were gone and he sighed with relief.

"That was good," Luffy told him. "We should have bugs again sometime."

"No! Never again. Never ever." Sanji shook his head so hard that for one second they almost saw his other eye. He stopped quickly when he realized.

After dinner, the others left the kitchen and he decided to wash the dishes before cooking something for Nami. He put on gloves before picking up the plate that he had used for the bugs. He left the kitchen and tossed the plate into the sea. Then he went back inside to do the dishes. He whistled while he worked and a large spider came up to him. Sanji screamed and ran out of the kitchen.

Luffy smiled and ran in and grabbed the spider and ate it whole.


End file.
